Spain's traditional saltpans: an unlikely bird haven

Because it’s not just about restoring saltpans for birds, or inspiring environmental action to save Spain’s flagship National Park (at which SEO/BirdLife are doing a very good job at their Doñana education centre in El Rocío); conservationists see many problems in Andalucía as symptomatic of people’s disconnection with the landscape, and in particular, their food. Nip into a local restaurant – where is the salt on the table sourced? It’s either chemically mined rock salt likely from Asia (fine-grain “vacuum salt” – like 80% of the world’s salt), or for the connoisseurs of crystal-like sea salt (which is higher in iodine and with more character), Spanish restaurants ship in big brands (from the UK, for instance) – despite neighbouring saltworks struggling to survive.